Begich Comment on Administration’s New Drilling Requirements

Published: September 30, 2010

While welcoming new standards aimed at preventing future oil rig blowouts, U.S. Sen. Mark Begich today expressed disappointment with the continuing lack of certainty from the Obama administration about the future of Alaska’s offshore oil and gas development. The Department of Interior today announced two new rules around drilling safety:

“Each day approval of responsible oil and gas development is delayed means lost jobs for Alaskans and other Americans and more imported energy from foreign countries, many of which are hardly our allies,” Begich said. “Promising offshore development in Alaska has become collateral damage from the BP Deepwater Horizon spill. Alaska’s enormous oil and gas resources are poised for development and will help assure America’s energy and economic security.”

Begich recently sent a letter to President Obama asking for a decision and timeline for OCS development within 60 days so Alaska’s oil and gas industry has certainty about when and how it can get back to work. The senator met Tuesday in his Washington, D.C., office with Michael Bromwich, director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement, to press him for a decision on Alaska development.